Victims of abuse to testify in private

Survivors of abuse will tell their stories to the royal commission into child sexual abuse for the first time in private sessions starting in Sydney on Tuesday but one of their advocates fears many will miss the chance or suffer more harm from the experience.

The sessions are understood to be taking place in Parramatta but details are not being made public. None of the information given by survivors will be made public unless the person agrees, the commission's chief executive officer, Janette Dines, said.

Ms Dines said many people had registered interest, and promised ''we will get back to them''.

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Many of the thousands expected to testify were uneducated, isolated and traumatised, she said. The process could be ''incredibly intimidating'' for them.

A commission spokesman said the sessions would build the commissioners' understanding of ''where they should be focusing their attentions''. They could last months, he said. Public hearings are due to start late this year and expected to take several years.